Results from a new study led by researchers at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the Mount Desert Island (MDI) Biological Laboratory show that engaging schools and students in a citizen science program can help reduce arsenic exposure in private well water.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element widely distributed in the Earth’s crust. Exposure to the toxicant in well water is a well-documented health issue for New Hampshire and Maine, as well as for other states in the U.S. and abroad. Arsenic exposure has been associated with an increased risk of cancer (especially bladder cancer in New England), cardiovascular disease, reduced infection resistance, and lower intelligence quotient in children.
“About half of the households in New Hampshire and Maine rely on private wells, which are not regulated by any agency, and research we’ve done at Dartmouth and elsewhere has shown that around 20 percent of people have arsenic in their well water but don’t know about it,” explains Bruce Stanton, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Geisel and lead co-author on the study. “Even when people know there is arsenic in the water, they may not treat their water to remove it.”
A few years ago, Stanton headed up a Superfund Research Program looking at arsenic exposure with a number of collaborators from across Dartmouth. The program was funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Services and involved working with entities like the U.S. Geological Survey, the State of New Hampshire, and local communities with the major goal of raising awareness about the issue. Despite their efforts, well-water testing rates have remained low.
For this new study, Stanton decided to take a creative approach, partnering with Jane Disney, PhD, at the MDI Biological Laboratory, an expert in citizen science programs and lead co-author on the study. They successfully landed a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) grant from the NIH to create a school-based citizen science program known as All About Arsenic (AAA).
“Our thinking was, if I tell you that you have arsenic in your well, you mightnot appreciate the health risks,” says Stanton. “Arsenic is odorless and tasteless, so you can’t tell if it’s there without a test. But if your kids tell you there’s arsenic in your well, you’re much more likely to take notice. You’re going to want to protect your kids—that was the theme of our approach.”
For their five-year study, the investigators engaged secondary school teachers and students as citizen scientists in collecting well water samples for analysis of arsenic and other toxic metals and supported their outreach efforts to their communities—which included attending town meetings and testifying in front of both state legislatures.
In all, the students collected 3,070 drinking water samples from their own homes and in some cases from the homes of neighbors and other community members—with 752 (24 percent) exceeding New Hampshire’s arsenic standard of 5 parts per billion. As a result of their efforts, more that 1,000 households now have the knowledge to remediate arsenic and be protected from elevated arsenic levels. And the AAA data has more than doubled the amount of information available to public health agencies about well water quality in multiple municipalities across both states.
The study team assessed the project’s public health impact by analyzing student data relative to existing well water quality datasets in New Hampshire and Maine. In addition, they surveyed private well owners who contributed well water samples to the project to determine the actions taken to remediate the toxicant in well water.
The team was able to show that a school-based approach to collecting and analyzing private well water samples can successfully reach communities with low testing rates. Importantly, information generated through the program can impact household decision-making, and students can influence local and state policymaking by sharing information with their communities.
One of the most impressive aspects of the study has been the initiative that the students have shown and how excited they’ve been to be able to apply what they’ve learned about science and math directly in their communities.
“You know, science can be pretty boring if students just read about it in a textbook, but when they actually get their hands on it, collect the samples, and look at the data, it makes it real for them,” says Stanton, who is pleased to report that the STEM grant was recently renewed for another five years.
“You know, science can be pretty boring if students just read about it in a textbook, but when they actually get their hands on it, collect the samples, and look at the data, it makes it real for them.”
- Bruce Stanton, PhD
“That’s been a big part of the progress we’ve made to date, as has been the contributions we’ve gotten from our study team members and our colleagues at Dartmouth—who have included Brian Jackson from earth sciences, Bill Green and Steve Fiering from microbiology and immunology, and the Dartmouth Cancer Center.
“While we’re very pleased with the results, I don’t think any of us will be satisfied until every single well in our states has been tested and remediated and none of our children and adults are exposed to arsenic,” he says. “That’s why our mantra is, ‘Test your well, and test your well regularly.’”
